Variator for a liquid dispenser

ABSTRACT

A gear box or mechanical speed variator particularly for liquid distributing measuring apparatus comprising a set of nine crown wheels arranged concentrically and whose number of teeth varies in the ratio of 1 to 9, said set of wheels cooperating with an assembly of sliding gears, each one of said gear selectively coming into engagement with any one of the gears of the multiple gear device.

United States Patent Soupenne 1 July 18,1972

[5.4] VARIATOR FOR A LIQUID DISPENSER [72] inventor; Henri Soupenne, Clamart, France [73] Assignee: Compagnie Des Compteurs, Paris, France [22] Filed: Dec. 12, 1969 21 App]. No.1 884,605

[30] A Foreign Application Priority Data Dec. 13, 1968 France ..l78,097

52 us. c1. ..235/6l L, 235/94 R, 74/681 51 1 ..B67d 5/22 581 Field oiSearch ..235/6l L, 94 R, 61 c, 94 A;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,498,821 2/1950 Olsson ...74/68l 697,801 4/1902 Cafl'rey ..74/681 913,623 2/1909 Dallison... 978,877 12/1910 Grimes 2,630,021 3/1953 Levin 2,743,867 5/1956 Gervais ..235/6l C Primary Examiner-Richard B. Wilkinson Assistant Examiner-Stanley A. Wal An0rney-Pierce, Schefiler & Parker [57] ABSTRACT A gear box or mechanical speed variator particularly for liquid distributing measuring apparatus comprising a set of nine crown wheels arranged concentrically and whose number of teeth varies in the ratio of 1 to 9, said set of wheels cooperating with an assembly of sliding gears, each one of said gear selectively coming into engagement with any one of the gears of the multiple gear device.

4 Chain, 9 Drawing Figures Patented July 18, 1972 3,677,466

8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented July 18, 1972 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 18, 1972 s She ets-Sheet 5 Pi as.

Patented July 18, 1972 8 sheets-sheet 4 Patented July 18, 1972 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented July 18, 1972 a Sheets-Sheet s Patented July 18, 1972 7 3,677,466

8 Sheets-Sheet 7 Patented July 16, 1972 3,677,466

8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Pic-21.9.

VARIATOR FOR A LIQUID DISPENSER The present invention relates to a gear box or mechanical speed variator, of the type comprising a multiple gears device cooperating with an assembly of sliding gears, more particularly intended for equiping hydrocarbon distributor metering appliances, so as to ascertain the price of the quantity of liquid delivered as a function of the unit price of this liquid.

It is known that in appliances of this kind, the variator, preceding the recorder of volumes and prices, is directly driven by the liquid measurer, Its input speed is thus proportional to the delivery of the liquid, whereas its output speed is both proportional to the flow of the liquid and the price of the volume unit or unit price of the volume unit.

An ordinary variator generally comprises a multiple gears device made of a conical piling of gears integral with the input shaft, and an assembly of sliding gears, whose rotations are transmitted to the output shaft, being selectively made to engage with one of the gears of the cone, according to the ratio required to be given to the transmission.

The regulating of the output speed of the variator as a function of the unit price is done manually by means of three sliding gears, the liquid unit price being often expressed by three significant figures (units, tenths, hundredths). Each of these sliding gears meshes with one of the nine gears of the cone whose numbers of teeth are respectively proportional to the FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9. In the case of the example of the unit price given, the first sliding gear, called unit sliding gear will mesh with the first gear of the cone which comprises, for instance, 12 teeth, the second sliding gear, called tenths sliding gear", will also mesh with the first gear of the cone, and the third sliding gear, called hundredths sliding gear, will mesh with the fifth gear of the cone which comprises 60 teeth. The rotation speeds of the sliding gears are then added to the epicycloidal trains, the resultant speed being thus proportional to the volume of liquid delivered and to the unit price of this liquid. Lastly, the respective positions of the three sliding gears on the gear cone are marked on the dial of the recorder by means of three figures, each of them being carried by a small drum graduated from zero to nine and a corresponding sliding gear, so as to display the unit price for which the variator is regulated.

Ordinary variators have a certain number of disadvantages. The utilizing of a gear cone entails, on the one hand, the occupying of considerable space. On the other hand, the movement of the sliding gears with a view to adjusting them on said cone involves numerous clutching and de-clutching operations, which entails manipulations which are often delicate.

The object of the invention is especially to obviate the above-mentioned disadvantages.

More precisely, it has the object of a mechanical speed variator, particularly for a liquid distributing measuring apparatus, of the type comprising a multiple gear device fixed on the input shaft, cooperating with an assembly of sliding gears, each of said gear, whose rotation speeds are added on the output shaft, selectively come into engagement with any one of the gears of said device, said variator being characterized by the following points.

1. The multiple gear device is formed by a set of nine crown wheels arranged concentrically whose number of teeth varies in the ratio of one to nine as from the smallest diameter wheel 2. The sliding gears are mounted on shafts placed radially on which they can be shifted crosswise Each sliding gear has a groove in which a driving fork engages mounted on a threaded rod parallel to the shaft supporting said sliding gear 4. Each crown wheel has a number of teeth that are the multiple of the number of sliding gears, and that of the largest diameter is provided with adjusting marks, of a number equal to the number of sliding gears, evenly spaced out on its periphery, so that when any one of these adjusting marks is brought in front of a fixed mark, the teeth of all the wheels are aligned according to directions in vertical coincidence with the axes of the shafts supporting the sliding gears 5. The set of the nine crown wheels is made in the shape of a moulded assembly 6. At one end of each shaft supporting a sliding gear, a helicoidal toothed wheel is mounted transmitting the rotation speed of the sliding gear to an adding device 7. Each fork has a finger placed in the groove of a lug forming part of a rack, so as to drive said rack from which the control takes place of a drum displaying the unit price.

Other characteristics of the invention will be revealed by the description which follows, made with regard to the attached drawings, and concerning a particular embodiment given by way of non-restrictive example.

FIG. 1 shows diagrammatically, the speed variator assembly combined with a quantity and price recorder.

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the variator, taken along the line IIII of FIG. 3, more particularly showing the crown wheels, one of the three sliding gears and the assembly of addition differentials.

FIG. 3 is a horizontal section of the variator, along the line III-III of FIG. 2, more particularly showing the assembly of three sliding gears and their driving forks.

FIG. 4 is a section of one of the forks, along the line lV-lV of FIG. 3.

FIGS. 5, 6 and 7 respectively show the transmission of the movement of the forks of the sliding pinions of the units, tenths and hundredths, to the drums recording the corresponding unit prices, each of these transmissions being shown in section along the lines VV, Vl--VI and VII-VII of FIG. 2.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the variator more particularly showing the drums displaying the unit price.

FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic section view along line IXIX of FIG. 2.

In FIG. 1, a speed variator l is diagrammatically shown and a quantity and price recorder 2, fixed one on the other by means of a screw 3. The input shaft 4 of the variator 1 on which a coupling 5 is mounted, directly receives its movement from the volume measurer M. The upper end of the shaft 4 drives toothed wheels 40 and 41 from which drums 6 are driven for displaying volumes and are seen on each face of the recorder 2. The toothed wheel 7 of the variator output 1 revolves at a speed proportional to the volume of liquid delivered and drives in toothed wheel 42 from which are controlled the drums 8 for displaying prices. The drums 9 displaying the unit price, arranged at the lower part of the recorder 2, are driven as will be explained hereafter, by means of forks controlling sliding pinions or gears.

In FIGS. 2 and 3, the variator l is shown housed in an assembly of two superimposed casings a lower casing 10 fixed on a plate 11 by screws 12, and an upper casing 13 fixed on the casing 10 by screws 14. On the input shaft 4 of the variator l which axially traverses said assembly of casings, a disc 15 is pinned inside the casing 10, having nine concentric toothed tracks on one face. The discs and tracks are made in the shape of a moulded assembly. The number of teeth of each annular track forming a toothed wheel is respectively proportional to the FIGS. 1 to 9. The smallest track or wheel 16 will have twelve teeth, for instance, and the largest 17, 108 teeth.

Shafts l8, l9 and 20, places radially at to each other, in the same horizontal plane, revolve at one of their ends in bearings of a boss 10a of the casing 10. Each of these shafts carries a sliding pinion, namely the sliding pinion 21 of the units, the sliding pinion 22 of the tenths, and the sliding pinion 23 of the hundredths.

Each of the sliding pinions 21, 22, 23 can engage with any one of the nine tracks or wheels of the disc 15. To this end, the sliding pinions are made integral rotatively with their respective shaft, by means of a key 24, but they can move crosswise by means of a longitudinal groove 25 provided on the respective shaft helical toothed wheels respectively 26, 27 and 28 are keyed on to one of the ends of the shafts l8, l9 and 20, which mesh with other helical toothed wheels, respectively 29, 30 and 31, keyed on to vertical shafts, respectively 32, 33 and 34. The shafts 32, 33 and 34, by means of wheels such as 35 and 36 (FIG. 2), drive differentials 37 and 38 whose resultant speed is obtained on the satellite-holder 39 of the second differential 38 as explained hereinafter in relation with FIG. 9.

While the input shaft 4 of the variator 1 transmits its movement to the drums 6 for displaying volumes by means of the toothed wheels 40 and 41, the toothed wheel 7, integral with the satellite-holder 39, drives the toothed wheel 42 which transmits its movement to the drums 8 displaying prices.

The sliding pinions 21, 22 and 23 have grooves 43 in which forks 44, 45 and 46 engage (FIG. 4) respectively mounted on threaded rods 47, 48 and 49 which revolve in the bearings of bosses b of the casing 10, parallel to the shafts 18, 19 and 20. Grooves 50, 51 and 52 are provided at the ends of said rods for rotatively driving them by means of a turnscrew, for instance.

The rotation movement of the threaded rods 47, 48 and 49 I drives the forks 44, 45 and 46 in translation as well as'the sliding pinions 21, 22 and 23 which can thus engage with any of the nine tracks of the dies 15. The correct positioning of said forks is obtained by means of bolts 53 (FIG. 4) thrust by springs 54 into notches 55 of the casing 10. On the other hand, the action of the springs such as 54 on the forks 44, 45 and 46 makes the forks bear on lugs such as 104 of the casing 10, by thus preventing any rotation movement of said forks owing to rotating of the threaded rods 47, 48 and 49.

In order to make possible an easy translation of the three sliding pinions 21, 11 and 23 along their respective shafts 18, 19 and 20, the various wheels or rims of the disc are toothed in such a way to provide all the spaces between two teeth be aligned along three directions a, b and c distributed at 120 to the other. This is made possible by providing each wheel with a number of teeth which is equal to a multiple of three. The disc 15 is moreover provided with three arms 102 distributed at 120 respectively on the extension of the above mentioned three directions, and a mark is provided on the casing 10 on the extension of shaft 18 (FIG. 3); the purpose of said arms and mark will be explained hereinafter.

When it is desired to change the unit price of a liquid distributcd by the apparatus of FIG. 1, the three directions a, b, c of the various wheels of the disc 15 are respectively brought into vertical coincidence with the axis of one of the three shafts 18, 19 and by manually rotating disc 15 to make any one of the arms 102 thereof to abut against the fixed mark 103 fixed with the casing 10. The translation of the sliding pinions 21, 22 and 23, then affords no difficulty because the spaces between teeth of all the wheels are then aligned with a tooth of said sliding pinions.

The upper wall of casing 10 comprises three fixed lugs such as 108, the end of each of them having the shape of a gear tooth (FIG. 2) whose role consists of securing the corresponding sliding pinion for regulating the latter at the number 0 of the unit price, as shown for the sliding pinion 21 in FIG. 3.

In FIGS. 5, 6 and 7, means are shown for driving the drums 9 displaying respectively the unit price of units, tenths and hundredths. Each fork 44, 45 and 46 carries a finger, respectively 56, 57 and 58 (the finger 56 is also shown in figures 2 and 4), which penetrates into the groove of a lug, respectively 59, 60 and 61, forming part of a rack, respectively 62, 63 and 64, so as to drive said corresponding rack in translation during the displacement of the sliding pinion corresponding to each fork.

Slots 105, 106 and 107, made in the upper wall of the casing 10, allow the lugs 59, 60 and 61 to pass through said wall.

The racks 62, 63 and 64 are guided by fingers such as 65 and 66 and mesh with large diameter toothed wheels, respectively 67, 68 and 69 (FIGS. 2 and respectively 5, 6 and 7), integral with small diameter toothed wheels, respectively 70, 71 and 72. The toothed wheels 70, 71 and 72 mesh with racks 73 and 74 for unity (FIG. 5), with racks 75 and 76 for tenths (FIG. 6) and with racks 77 and 78 for hundredths (FIG. 7).

The above-mentioned racks are guided by fingers such as 79 and 80, and rotatively drive toothed wheels 81, 82, 83 and 84 for the units (FIG. 5), 85, 86, 87 and 88 for the tenths (FIG. 6), and 89, 90, 91 and 91 for the hundredths (FIG. 7).

The wheels 82 (FIG. 8) and 84 (FIG. 5) are respectively integral with shafts 93 and 94 at whose end drums 95 are mounted displaying the number of the price units of the volume unit.

Likewise, the wheels 86 (FIG. 8) and 88 (FIG. 6) are respectively integral with shafts 96 and 97 at whose end drums 98 are mounted displaying the number of tenths of the price of the volume unit.

Also, in the same way, the wheels 90 (FIG. 8) and 92 (FIG. 7) are respectively integral with shafts 99 and 100 at whose ends drums 101 are mounted displaying the number of the hundredths of the price of the volume unit.

The above described characteristics particularly enable a four sliding gear variator or gearing box to be constructed mounted on shafts arranged radially at 90 to each other, to the extent where the unit price of the liquid for distribution is expressed by a significant number of four figures. It is also possible, within the scope of the present invention, to make use of means equivalent to those described, for driving, from the movement of the sliding pinions, drums for displaying the unit price.

Referring now particularly to FIG. 9, we will now explain how is obtained the resultant speed on the satellite holder 39 of the second differential 38.

The spindle 34 drives by means of the toothed wheels 35, 36 and 109 the planetary 110 of the differential 37. The spindle 33 drives by means of the toothed wheels 11], 112, 113, the planetary 114 of the differential 37 By means of the satellites 115, the satellite holder 116 proportionally adds the speeds of the planetaries 110 and 114, Le.

the speeds of the sliding pinion of the hundredths (pinion 23) and the tenths (pinion 22) and conveys then its movement to the planetary 117 of the differential 38. I

The spindle 32 drives by means of the toothed wheels 118, 119, 120, the planetary 121 of the differential 38.

By means of the satellites 122, the satellite holder 39 proportionally adds the speeds of the planetaries 117 and 121, i.e. the speeds of the sliding pinions of the hundredths (pinion 23), tenths (pinion 22) and units (pinion 21).

IClaim:

1. A gear changing system comprising a casing, an input shaft, a gear disc connected to said input shaft comprising a set of nine concentrically arranged gear wheels of different diameters, said gear wheels being provided with identical teeth with the number of said teeth on each ofsaid gear wheels being a multiple of three, three additional shafts radially supported with respect to said gear disc and arranged at 120 with respect to each other, a sliding gear movable along each of said additional shafts for selective engagement with one of said gear wheels, an output shaft, transmission means to connect said sliding gears to said output shaft for adding the rotation of each of said sliding gears, alignment means on said disc, adjusting means on said disc, and abutment means on said casing whereby upon movement of said adjustment means against said abutment means said alignment means allows said sliding gears to be translated to another one of said gear wheels.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein said alignment means comprises three radial passages arranged at [20 with respect to each other, said passages being formed by aligning the spaces between two teeth on each of said gear wheels.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein said adjustment means comprises three radial arms arranged at 120 with respect to each other and extending beyond said gear disc.

4. The system of claim 3 and further comprising means for controlling the movement of said sliding gears on said additional shafts. 

1. A gear changing system comprising a casing, an input shaft, a gear disc connected to said input shaft comprising a set of nine concentrically arranged gear wheels of different diameters, said gear wheels being provided with identical teeth with the number of said teeth on each of said gear wheels being a multiple of three, three additional shafts radially supported with respect to said gear disc and arranged at 120* with respect to each other, a sliding gear movable along each of said additional shafts for selective engagement with one of said gear wheels, an output shaft, transmission means to connect said sliding gears to said output shaft for adding the rotation of each of said sliding gears, alignment means on said disc, adjusting means on said disc, and abutment means on said casing whereby upon movement of said adjustment means against said abutment means said alignment means allows said sliding gears to be translated to another one of said gear wheels.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein said alignment means comprises three radial passages arranged at 120* with respect to each other, said passages being formed by aligning the spaces between two teeth on each of said gear wheels.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein said adjustment means comprises three radial arms arranged at 120* with respect to each other and extending beyond said gear disc.
 4. The system of claim 3 and further comprising means for controlling the movement of said sliding gears on said additional shafts. 